Today will be just another execution day in Texas. David Hicks will be strapped on to a bed and lethal chemicals will be injected into his arm. His only chance is last-minute clemency, but in a state run by George W Bush, that is a very slim chance indeed.

In his five years as governor, Mr Bush has approved 116 executions, more than any other US governor in modern times. Lethal injections on death row in Huntsville have become so commonplace that they are barely noted in the press.

Michael King, the editor of the Texas Observer, said: "The politicians, both Democrat and Republican, always compete to say 'I killed more than you did'."

Thus Mr Bush lost no popularity points for supporting a 1995 law aimed at shortening the delay between conviction and execution, known locally as the "speed up the juice" law. Nor was he taking a political risk when he opposed a bill to ban executions of the mentally handicapped or ill.

That bill, if passed, would probably have spared the life of Larry Robison, who is due to be executed tomorrow. Robison is a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic who was not covered for treatment by his family's health insurance.

Despite their appeals for him to be cared for, he was continually released on the grounds he showed no signs of violence. In 1982, responding to voices he said were coming out of clocks, he murdered five people.

The Texas board of pardons and paroles also has no history of making allowances for age. No clemency is expected for Glen McGinnis, who was 17 when he shot a laundry attendant in a bungled raid. He is due to die on January 25.

Their deaths will almost certainly go unnoticed in a presidential campaign in which all the candidates support the death penalty, as do three out of four Americans. But defence lawyers and human rights activists in Texas say that the state's record on capital punishment should be a national issue.

"A person may be condemned to die in Texas in a process that has the integrity of a professional wrestling match," said Stephen Bright, the director of the Southern Centre for Human Rights.

There is no state public defender system in Texas and the courts assign poor defendants lawyers who are often on low pay and have few qualifications. One court assigned 14 death penalty appeals to two former law clerks with no experience in capital cases.

Court-appointed defence lawyers have even been known to fall asleep during a trial. When asked why he had nodded off, a 72-year-old named John Benn told journalists: "It's boring." In another capital case, the defence lawyer dispensed with a closing summary and proceeded to sing Home on the Range instead.

But even if the defence lawyer is awake and competent, he is likely to be enmeshed in a web of political and financial obligations. Maurie Levin, who leads a fairly lonely campaign in Austin against the death penalty, said: "Judges are elected, and attorneys are dependent on the court for their next job.

"And if a trial judge approves too much money for, God forbid, defence of a murderer, they would not be well-viewed in the next election. Everything is intertwined. There is no independence."

A convicted murderer's last hope is the pardons board, an 18-member panel appointed by the governor, which decides on issues of clemency. Over 99% of cases fail. The board's proceedings are secret and the members fax in their decisions from separate regional offices.

This practice, known in Texan legal circles as "death by fax", has been roundly criticised by a string of judges and legal scholars.

But "death by fax" continues, with Mr Bush's support. Last year he opposed two bills requiring the board to consider clemency appeals in public. This, the governor said, might create "a chance for people to rant and rail, a chance for people to emotionalise the process beyond the questions that need to be asked".

Mr Bush and his supporters insist that the system works and that under his watch, no innocent person has been wrongly convicted.

Friends of James Beathard, executed on December 9, argue differently. He was convicted on the testimony of another suspect, Gene Hathorn, who believed he would be spared as a result. When prosecutors reneged on the deal, Hathorn recanted his testimony, but it was too late to beat a 30-day deadline following Beathard's conviction.

At the time of his death, Beathard wrote: "There is a part of me that feels that as bad as it is to die in here, it's just a little worse to die without anyone saying 'This is wrong'."

Four for death row

'The Clinton-Gore administration has supported efforts to expand the death penalty. As president, I would continue to support the death penalty and expansion of it where appropriate'Al Gore

'As a senator, I supported expanding the death penalty to punish the most heinous crimes ... I want to ensure however that the death penalty is not implemented in a racially unequal way'Bill Bradley

'I support the death penalty for violent criminals who commit heinous crimes because we must send a strong message that the consequences of violent criminal behaviour are swift and sure'George W Bush

'I support the imposition of the death penalty for heinous crimes in which the circumstances warrant capital punishment. I've supported legislation in the senate that sought to significantly expand the number of federal crimes punishable by death, including terrorism and narcotics trafficking by drug kingpins'John McCain